Adrienne Shelly - SCARY MEN

Before writing and directing her best-known film, WAITRESS (2007), Adrienne Shelly directed two features, SUDDEN MANHATTAN (1996), I'LL TAKE YOU THERE (1999) and three shorts, URBAN LEGEND (1994), LOIS LIVES A LITTLE (1997), and THE SHADOWS OF BOB AND ZELDA (2000). She also wrote two screenplays, "The Morgan Stories" (unproduced), and "Serious Moonlight," which was made into a movie in 2009, directed by Cheryl Hines.
I selected these clips as part of an essay I wrote on her about her my website, which was my attempt at the first critical appreciation of Adrienne's life's work. Nobody had ever done this and nobody has done it since. I was her publicist, she was my friend, and she co-starred in a short film I wrote and directed. There was no WAITRESS back then, and she was very hurt that people didn't appreciate her work as a writer/director. She had a fanbase as an actor in independent films, but the industry and the critics didn't give her much respect when she was alive.
In an essay she wrote at the time of the release of "Sudden Manhattan," Adrienne wrote: "In my twenties I had every bad kind of relationship imaginable. I questioned just about every move I made and I failed an awful lot in a variety of ways--sometimes loud and noisily, and sometimes in small subtly painful ways. There was unrest, boredom, a feeling of hopelessness, powerlessness, and a garden variety angst. Mostly, (modest film career or no modest film career, depending on the month) there was a lot of wandering. I guess what I was really doing was searching, and trying to figure out who the hell I was. And being rather clumsy."
I never found out if the men in her life were as bad as she said they were. There are two sides to every story and I only got to hear hers. As did anybody who saw her movies--particularly Earl in Waitress, who got on a list of the “10 Worst Movie Husbands.” www.scene-steal...
She also wrote a hilarious essay about Oprah Winfrey’s increasing frustration with her endless non-marriage to her fiancé, Stedman Graham. (It was read at Adrienne’s memorial by one of Adrienne’s closest friends, actress Pamela Gray.)
In most of her portraits of men, she wasn't bitter or angry. She looked at these men with compassion and found them more ridiculous than truly bad. She found whimsical humor there. That was her unique gift, and what I loved most about her.
Still, some of the portraits weren't humorous at all. These characters stood for a world that was chaotic and precarious, where, in a second, a woman could be selfishly used or much worse. In her unproduced screenplay “The Morgan Stories,” there is a both a rape and an act of lethal violence.
THE BLUES • Adrienne Shelly - THE ...
MEN • Adrienne Shelly - THE ...
SCARY MEN • Adrienne Shelly - SCAR...
TEACHERS • Adrienne Shelly - TEAC...
Also
"Adrienne Shelly directs I'LL TAKE YOU THERE" • Adrienne Shelly direct...
(Just a few moments of her on the set)
As the website is no longer up, I took these clips down long ago, but I just decided to put them up again, as it's really hard to see these movies. It is my hope that these clips will cause more people to seek out her early work, with an eye toward how she developed as a talented young filmmaker. Even though it's difficult to see I'LL TAKE YOU THERE nowadays, SUDDEN MANHATTAN runs free on KZbin and it's my favorite film by her. It's probably not her "best" film, but if you want to know what she was like as a human being, and her sense of humor, it's a great place to start. It shows her sense of humor and her uniquely female perspective on men.
SUDDEN MANHATTAN To my knowledge, this is not available for streaming in the US. You can buy a DVD or VHS tape on Amazon, but the DVD can be really expensive ($99!). However, you can watch it free on KZbin. • Sudden Manhattan (Adri...
I'LL TAKE YOU THERE (DEJ Productions) To my knowledge, this is not available on any streaming platform. On Amazon, you can buy a DVD on Amazon ($39.99) or a VHS tape ($2.99). Probably eBay has it now and then.